GREENWOOD -- Hunter Houston won a lot of games and threw a lot of touchdown passes at Greenwood.
Those aren't the most cherished memories of his illustrious career for the Bulldogs, though.
"All the fun times we practiced, all the little breaks we've had, the dancing on the sideline, the jokes, throwing water on people," the senior quarterback said. "It's those little fun moments."
Houston guided the Bulldogs to the outright 6A-West championship this season and to two-straight Class 6A state championship games, and he never lost at home during his three-year career.
This season, Houston threw for 3,684 yards and 33 touchdowns. Last year, he threw for 3,098 yards and 27 touchdowns and became the first Greenwood quarterback to throw for more than 3,000 yards in consecutive seasons since Tyler Wilson in 2006 and 2007.
"That's pretty good," Houston said. "Knowing how good he was and what he went on to do it's pretty nice to be in the same conversation with him."
It's safe to say that Greenwood and Houston are three plays away from winning consecutive state championships.
He was forced to leave the state championship game last year after a head injury on a second-quarter sack. Greenwood scored one second-half touchdown and lost to El Dorado, 27-17.
In this year's state championship, the Bulldogs dropped what would have been a touchdown and had another pass go through a receiver's hand that resulted in an interception that led to a touchdown by Pulaski Academy, which won, 42-35.
Houston will certainly be remembered as one of the toughest to play the coveted position at Greenwood.
Early last year, he missed two games due to a knee injury. A few weeks before the championship game, he hurt a shoulder, which eventually required surgery, and then suffered the concussion in the championship game.
This year, he tweaked his knee again, had a hip pointer and suffered a shoulder injury again.
Still, the thought of giving up never entered Houston's mind.
"No, that was never a thought," Houston said. "It was just a matter of getting through it and keep going."
Physically, the injuries still posed obstacles, but he and his position coach Stephen Hogan, a former Greenwood quarterback, worked through them as well.
"There were times where I'd turn around to Coach Hogan and tell him I couldn't throw it 25 yards," Houston said. "He'd say throw it 20."
Houston persevered and spent a lot of time on the trainer's table determined not to miss his senior season.
"He had labrum surgery, which is a huge deal, he had knee surgery during the season his junior season, and that knee gave him problems this season," Greenwood coach Chris Young said. "He battled through it."
Despite the maladies, Houston's accuracy was still remarkable regardless of the pass.
"He was unbelievably accurate," Young said. "We've had some good quarterbacks here, but he could make every throw. Coach Hogan kept an on-target stat, and he was at 82%, and that was not just on short throws. We threw the ball more often vertically this year because people tried to take away the hitch screen. He was incredibly accurate throwing the ball."
Accuracy was something that Houston worked on.
"That's always been something; I never tried to over throw. If I had to take a little something off to get it to the right spot, right shoulder, left shoulder, I'd do that instead of just trying to throw it through somebody," Houston said.
Maybe more than anything, though, it was Houston's decision-making ability that made him one of the best quarterbacks in the state.
"With our offense, most of the time there's a pass concept on the right and a pass concept on the left and then a running tag," Young said. "It's up to the quarterback to make the right decision based on numbers or leverage. We never had a question where the ball was going with Hunter. He made the right decision 99.9% of the time. His accuracy along with his knowledge of the offense and understanding of the defense made him special."
Houston finished his career with 7,310 yards and 66 touchdown passes. His career-high game was 441 yards at Russellville this season. He threw five touchdown passes against Van Buren, and seven times during his career he threw four touchdowns in a game.
In the championship game loss to Pulaski Academy, he was 28-of-43, passing for 369 yards and three scores.
"The way he continued to improve throughout his career," Young said. "Not only was he a great player early on, but he never stalled out, he never flattened out. He just got better and better. Arguably, the state championship game was his best game he played this year."
Houston is a multisport athlete. He took two days off after the championship game and joined the basketball team in time for an out-of-state tournament. After basketball, he'll join the baseball team, which he really looks forward to since he missed the entire season recovering from shoulder surgery.
"Whatever's in season is my favorite but probably football, maybe baseball," Houston said. "I missed baseball not getting to play last year. I'm looking forward to that."
Hunter Houston of Greenwood, seen Dec. 14, is the 2022 All-River Valley Democrat-Gazette offensive football player of the year. Visit nwaonline.com/photo for today’s photo gallery. (River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Hunter Houston of Greenwood, seen Dec. 14, is the 2022 All-River Valley Democrat-Gazette offensive football player of the year. Visit nwaonline.com/photo for today’s photo gallery. (River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)HOUSTON, WE HAVE NO PROBLEMS
HUNTER HOUSTON 2022 GAME-BY-GAME PASSING
OPPONENT;CMP;ATT;YDS;TDS
@Stillwater OK;37;51;373;4
FS Northside;17;20;238;1
Mountain Home;21;29;192;3
@Siloam Springs;13;16;166;4
Van Buren;15;17;303;5
@Greenbrier;38;46;344;1
Lake Hamilton;18;23;255;1
@Russellville;33;46;441;3
Pulaski Academy;22;35;250;1
@LR Christian;17;34;167;1
Russellville;26;33;326;4
Benton;25;43;260;2
Pulaski Academy;28;43;369;3
TOTALS;310;436;3,684;33